evidence based nursing assignment help

evidence based nursing assignment help

Evidence-Based Nursing

1. Introduction to Evidence-Based Nursing

The quest to provide quality patient care has seen significant moves in nursing. Through evidence-based practice, a lot of nurses are currently able to make carefully considered judgments which have the potential to make an actual difference to patients’ lives. Talent, power, and guidance of the contemporary nurse have to be harnessed perfectly to deliver not only what is clinically essential for the patient but also what patients require, regardless of the nature of the patient’s association with the nurse, that is, whether it is based on observing, receiving a recommendation from, or being professionally cared by the nurse. It is a fact that nurses have to manage and take care of a wide range of health problems, and evidence-based practice helps in determining that care which is more efficient. This can be done through an informed approach to one’s practice by making it a habit to always make it the first step, i.e. going to the evidence whichever kind of works it may be, the current best practice recommendations, the desires and the perspectives of the patients, the pharmacists, or even other forms of health workers used to health and social care. Over the past decade, evidence-based practice has become a significant driver of patient care standards and improvement. However, to perfectly understand what evidence-based practice is and therefore how it can be theorized and applied into the patient care in nursing, one must first appreciate the existing forms of knowledge that currently exist within the discipline. Genuinely, there is a need to recognize the everyday practice knowledge, that is the knowledge that has been inherited over time, focusing on an individual healthcare expert’s experience. There is in existence the empirical knowledge, and this focuses on the science of nursing and including the professional pathways by which current best evidence can be accessed and applied for. On the other hand, the patient experiences are collectively known as the ethical knowledge, and this focuses on recognizing the inequalities in health and how patients’ feelings on their own health could change over time. Using these forms of knowledge, the nurses are able to adapt their methodologies and tailor their missions in line with other individuals within the nursing or real-life patients. It is striking to note that best practice recommendations provide a good process for bringing evidence-based practice into the patient care in nursing. The clinical practice guidelines or CPGs are at the moment providing nurses with a useful tool to offer a description of how the evidence can be translated into practice. The guidelines give a good chance for an overview of the key research results and give a suggestion for health professionals to follow them. Also, the guidelines are a lot important to nurses when they are recording any use of the guidelines and also when they are not in a position to follow the recommended evidences. Adaptation of the guidelines has therefore been found important for nursing accountability and liability. On the other hand, the evidence can be obtained from well-conducted research processes, research findings, and theories which can be used to support practice and enhance the patient care but as a period of time narrative justifications, expert opinions, and the information obtained from a variety of sources either in hard copies or from the internet are taken to be the contemporary best evidence. Such type of practice is generally referred to as evidence-based practice, and it describes a more complete and perfect method of decision making which allows an individual to use his or her existing best knowledge along with the up-to-date evidence and the patient experiences in making a rational kind of decision.

2. Importance of Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing

Evidence-based practice in nursing has been accepted in the nursing profession and has been called a key to delivering the highest quality care and excellent clinical outcomes. It’s important for nurses to closely connect their daily routine work with knowledge collection and analysis in the field of evidence-based practice. To help operate evidence-based practice, nursing leadership needs to be given a vision and necessary authority to build up the professional capacity of nursing staff at all levels. The related guidelines and standards also need to be reviewed and revised regularly to create a conducive environment for evidence-based practice. Additionally, resources including human resources, financial resources, and time need to be provided in order to realize successful evidence-based practice in nursing. These introductory materials help all nurses understand how much current nursing practice is driven by tradition or authority, how they are expected to obey requests from physicians, follow established procedures or care plans, and how difficult change does not necessarily mean better. The authors stated that once nurses “have the knowledge, have the attitude, and there is some form of institutional support,” the transformation of patient care can be achieved through evidence-based practice in nursing. Next, the sources of evidence are discussed, including an explanation of what “evidence” means in evidence-based practice by providing a valid explanation. A “hierarchy of evidence” is shown, with different types of evidence ranked from the strongest at the top to the weakest at the bottom. The authors also compare experimental, non-experimental, and opinion-based information and illustrate the variation in validity and reliability power between them. After that, the process of conducting evidence-based practice is introduced. Acquiring research evidence, appraising the evidence, applying the evidence to clinical practice, evaluating the practice, and disseminating the results are each elaborated in detail within a couple of pages with specific instructions. Moreover, implementation strategies are also discussed at the end of the book. How to develop procedures that drive best practice based on current valid knowledge in the evidence-based knowledge, how to embrace a knowledge-driven culture across healthcare institutions, and how to encourage a collective effort to ensure the best practice is available to the patient throughout treatment are emphasized.

3. Steps in Implementing Evidence-Based Nursing

Every plan with any care given based on evidence should be looked at as a learning experience and as a way to pinpoint what might be done differently and hopefully even better the next time.

The evidence-based practice process is a seven-step process. All the steps are important, but the importance of each individual step can depend on the individual question and the circumstances. For example, sometimes the most important thing is knowing what outcome you would like to measure in patients (Step 3). Other times, the nature of a question will guide what resources must be gathered and in turn will determine how extensive a literature search must be (that is, Step 4). However, it is important to note that the final step in the process does not seem to be given the importance of any other step, and that is to evaluate the entire process. No matter how well the other steps have been done and no matter how flawless the care based on the evidence was provided, there is no way to know for sure that there was not a better way to do it unless the process is reviewed and evaluated.

The first step in the evidence-based practice process is recognizing that you might need to change and then being open to new and different ideas in nursing. This step may sound easy, but it can be difficult. People grow to love what they are used to and become very comfortable in the rhythm of what they do every day. It is easy to think that what has always been done is the best way to do it and that it cannot be done any other way. It is important to recognize that there might be a better way to care for patients and that there might be different ways to do things.

Putting evidence-based practice to work in your nursing practice will require a new way of thinking and looking at your job. For some of the steps that follow, you will need to pause and think about what you have always done and think of ways you might do things differently based on evidence. As changes are made, a nurse can begin to see that these changes can have a positive effect on patient outcomes, that patient care can be safer, and that nurses can feel more confident that the care they deliver is based on evidence and not just on the way it has always been done.

4. Challenges in Implementing Evidence-Based Nursing

Another major challenge to evidence-based practice is the pressures from the organizational culture. Widespread throughout the healthcare industry is a focus on profit, growing efficiencies, and cost saving for the improvement of patients’ health. Just because something is found to be financially beneficial and in the best interest of the organization does not mean it will be the best course of action for a particular patient population; evidence-based practice should not be overshadowed by financial incentives. In order to deal with these challenges, the focus cannot be on teaching the right cure for each situation; rather, it must be on teaching nurses how to think about clinical problems critically. This involves taking the core of the traditional nursing intuition and growing it with the use of EBP standards. The best indication that EBP is being practiced is that the nurse and the patient become engaged in discussions of defined outcomes and choices for care. This care revolve strategy enhances the value of care given. In order to keep nurses competent and current, various steps can be taken. For example, employers in healthcare environments that want to encourage evidence-based practice can create policies and procedures to support these principles. Also, more access to current research information with proper training in EBP process will promote such a culture in healthcare settings. On the other hand, personal healthcare providers can also play a same kind of role. They can ask the nurse about the treatment and what is being done for the patient. Therefore, nurses would feel that they are competent to make some decision about the care and the patient’s. In some cases, educators to health professions need to incorporate a curriculum from the very beginning student up to the advanced practice providers. EBP should focus more on what care should patients get, how the patient will benefit, and what we can do in practice. Practice is slowly transformed into a culture where decision making is oriented to a greater degree by the best available evidence. Then, professional autonomy becomes a reality and it also poses a challenge in healthcare environments. Autonomy is defined as an influence by self-desires to make decisions while respecting others. By the examination of the interrelationships among teaching critical thinking, autonomous nursing functions, EBP standards, quality of care, and patients’ well-being, it becomes clear that an atmosphere conducive to the start of professional making judgments based on the best available evidence. It will no doubt be seen that the outcome of every individual patient will improve and at the same time when the conclusion is grown, the professional development and personal satisfaction can be fulfilled.

5. Future Directions in Evidence-Based Nursing

Finally, another future direction is increased global collaboration. Research is becoming increasingly internationally collaborative and internationally mobile. Also, nurses can facilitate the research enterprise by aligning consumer, research and policy values with best practice standards and use the evidence in the clinical decision. As future nurses, the implementation of evidence-based practice in the healthcare system will bring hands-on patient care to a new level. On the other hand, it also aspires to prepare nurses to approach the policy making with confidence and competence using population health focus. Also, we need to develop and encourage the culture for the use of effective information technology, which will give nurses the most relevant, current and comprehensive evidence related to each patient decision. So, it is very important that nursing students should have the opportunity to acquire the skills of searching, retrieving and evaluating evidence to guide practice from infancy to expert level.

Another future direction is the increased emphasis on patient involvement. We have seen a notable shift towards more patient-centric healthcare in recent years, and evidence-based practice is no exception to this. Most nurses are now trained in using evidence-based practice and quality improvement in their educational programmes. As a result, future nurses will use evidence from well-designed studies, quality improvement initiatives, and information technology to improve patient care and healthcare outcomes. All those turn into steps that nurses need to follow to ensure successful EBP implementation. But the future nurses will have a responsibility to remain strong and healthy. All the evidence-based practices and quality skills acquired during the educational programme will be used in improving patient care and healthcare outcomes. By developing and encouraging the culture for the use of effective information technology, future nurses will use the most relevant, current and comprehensive evidence related to each patient decision.

Secondly, the use of ‘big data’ will likely become more widespread. The advancement of technology means that an increasing amount of healthcare data is now digitised, in the form of electronic medical records, data from wearables and apps, and data gathered from patients digitally in various other ways. Accessing and understanding this type of ‘big data’ can be incredibly complex, but it is likely that as time goes on and technology develops, the use of big data will become more and more important for enhancing patient care through evidence-based practice in nursing.

Firstly, open access will increase. It is likely that in the future, open access will become the norm. This is a great thing for evidence-based practice in nursing, as it opens up more resources to nurses and allows them to access a wide range of studies and data that can help to inform their practice. This has already begun, with the National Institute for Health Research recently announcing that all studies funded by them will have to be published in open access journals.